Some bittersweet news for fans and players looking forward to experiencing Streets of Rogue 2.
American video game publisher tinyBuild announced that the Early Access launch of the highly anticipated sequel has been postponed.
Developer Matt Dabrowski took to Steam to write more details about their decision to push back its Early Access release. According to Dabrowski, they needed more time to refine not only the game's mechanics. But also its progression system, and address any technical issues.
"Well, the TL;DR is Big Open-Ended Game + Solo Programmer = Unpredictable Timeline," Dabrowski wrote. "At this point in development, I’d consider the game to be a lot closer to being Early Access-ready, as the game’s foundations are pretty solid," he added.
Streets of Rogue 2 was initially scheduled for an Early Access release this October 22. It is the sequel to the 2019 hit, Streets of Rogue.
But Dabrowski said that they still need polishing and bug fixes before rolling out the game. Also, the developer wanted more pre-release community feedback, prompting him to open a playable demo instead.
"Consider this demo to be a fairly rough (but hopefully pretty fun) taste of what’s to come," said Dabrowski.
The demo for Streets of Rogue 2 joins hundreds of other game demos in Steam's Next Fest which started on October 14. It is currently one of the festival's most wishlisted games.
Called "Island Alpha", the demo offers players a sneak peek into the game's open-world chaos.
Players get to explore a small island, separate from the main landmass. Their goal is to take down the local mayor or gain their favor. But, alternative objectives are also available.
It also features a selection of character classes and randomly generated worlds. Dabrowski said mutators may be added before or after release.
While controller support and local co-op are not currently available, they will be added in future updates. Online multiplayer is not supported in the demo, the developer added.
In the meantime, Dabrowski plans to continue updating the demo based on player feedback and changes made to the full game.